Brain Damage
by Briony'Tiger'Romain
Summary: Surviving day to day, Evangeline works to keep herself and herself alone, alive. But what happens when a trio of survivors find her, and quiz her about their missing companion? Will she join with them in their efforts to stay alive, or will she continue on her own? Possible Daryl x OC or Rick x OC.
1. The Stranger

Brain Damage, Chapter One.

Heat descended upon her like she had never felt before, it was by far the hottest day she had encountered in Atlanta since she ended up being stuck in this god forsaken place, hopping from shop to shop in an attempt to avoid detection by the walkers, and to avoid running out of food and other supplies. Now, she was walking through the streets, trying to stick to the shade, letting herself keep her back to the wall so that nothing could sneak up behind her, her eyes were kept peeled as she took in the landscape in front of her, there were no walkers that she could see. The key part of that sentence being 'that she could see', her guard was never down, there could always be a threat that you didn't notice, that would appear from nowhere, and that was how the majority of people died, or got turned into one of those things.

Evangeline was a loner, she had been since this 'epidemic' happened, she had been on a vacation to visit the sights of America when she had been trapped here, unable to get a flight back over to Britain, and so with dwindling money and no place to stay, she had it rough even before the world completely fell to shit. Now that it had, in some respects it was easier, she didn't have to worry about getting caught stealing, finding a place to stay, now all she had to worry about was getting caught by one, or a mob, of these drooling freaks that littered the city of Atlanta, which was becoming more and more of a death trap each day.

She had seen many people walking to and fro over the shops while she had been there, and they kept themselves to themselves for the most part as long as she didn't take what they had come in the shop for. Now, she was trying to get into the large department store around the corner from where she had been holed up, and her eyes widened when she saw that it had been completely ransacked and there were the familiar shuffles and moans of walkers in the streets around it. Sighing she ran her hand through her hair, short though it was, and attempted to think of what to do, before deciding she had best make a run for it into the store, after all, night was coming and she couldn't stay out here much longer without baking to a crisp in the heat, she needed to rest up even for a few moments.

Poking her head around the corner, Evangeline took stock of the situation at hand, there were only a few walkers around the shop and they seemed to be more interested in something they had caught recently, so, with her worn leather boots she softly padded through them, making sure to move both efficiently but also as quietly as possible, no point in being hasty if you end up getting yourself killed by the noise you make in the process. Once she had passed the group of walkers, with only a sniff and a grunt in her direction, Evangeline relaxed slightly, maybe there wouldn't be any in here? Although she found herself discounting that thought almost as soon as it popped into her mind, of course there would be some in here, there always was.

Threading three of her throwing knives through her fingers, Evangeline stepped into the dark of the shop, making sure to move with equal quietness, trying to avoid the broken glass on the floor, there was one walker shuffling amongst the shelves and she gritted her teeth and raised her hand, throwing one of the knives hard into the forehead of the walker, letting it fall to the ground with a small thump, quickly turning she hoped that none of the ones outside had heard it. When none of them turned her way, she moved on swiftly and located a staff area, that looked as if it had been used recently, and she cautiously retrieved her knife from the Walker's skull, before making her way over to the stairs that looked like they lead up to some sort of stock room, either that or some communal area that the staff had used when this place actually did business, and climbing them.

Eventually she reached the top of the stairs and she smelt the awful aroma of burning skin…and immediately wondered why the hell it would be there? Surely if it was a fire the whole building would have gone up, nobody would be cooking a human, especially if they were a walker, the only explanation would be if someone needed to heal a wound or something, but surely they wouldn't be on their own if they were. Pressing her ear to the thin plaster of the wall Evangeline heard what sounded like a Southern drawl, and the guy sounded pissed, very pissed. Debating if she should go back outside now, Evangeline bit her lip, it was getting late now, and she needed to hunker down somewhere and make it safe. She might not have time to do that if she went searching now.

But this guy…this guy sounded hostile, like he wanted nothing more than to rip apart the first person that he saw.

Before she herself could act the man appeared out of the kitchenette and boy did he look like he had been through the wringers, he was all bloodied and looked as pale as a guy could look without passing out, he must have had some serious blood loss. Letting her eyes wander down his body Evangeline blinked at his wound, the crazy bastard had lost his hand? How on earth did he manage to do that? That must have been something he had done himself, no walker would have bitten somebodies hand clean off unless they had stuck it in its mouth.

"What the fuck you doing here little missy?" he demanded, his southern drawl making him hard to understand at first, but then Evangeline thought it was best to respond before the guy used his other fist to give her a punch to the jaw, like he looked like he might do.

"I just came to find a safe place to stay, I didn't know anyone else was in here." She stated, her British accent making her a little softer sounding than the man, but she was by no means less formidable in a fight, she was sure that she could take him if the worst came to worst, although she knew she would avoid fighting at all possible costs.

"You expect me to believe that crock of bullshit princess?" he cooed, but his voice was angry, Evangeline needed to calm the situation down and calm it down fast, he needed to rest and gain some energy back, maybe if she helped him out now, he would be less likely to kick her in the gut and steal her provisions.

"I'm sorry but it's the truth…" she whispered quietly "But you look like you're going to keel over any moment, do you want something to drink, something to eat? Maybe some painkillers?" Evangeline asked, letting her eyes wander down to the bloody and rather disgusting stump that the guy now had on the end of his arm, maybe he should have cleaned that, it would get infected easily without a bandage on it.

The man, she could see, was mulling over her offer and she was glad that he was doing so, maybe he would take it and the atmosphere would calm down a little bit, although the look on his face told her that he was about to come out with some sexist and quite frankly embarrassing remark about something that she could give him instead, and as if on cue, he said;

"Well I'm not sure about all of that but, there's certainly something else I want from a pretty little thing like you, you got a name doll?" he asked.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Evangeline thought that she had better tell the guy her name, if only so she humoured him long enough for him to get what he wanted and leave, she knew full well however that if he attempted to get close to her, she would SING to her hearts content on his sorry ass. But there was no need to get hostile right now, she was going to be able to continue this calm talking for a while longer before this guy pushed a button.

"My names Evangeline, what's yours?" she stated, making sure to ignore the first part of his speech, hoping he would get the subtle message, but already having the idea that this guy was far from subtle and she would have to spell it out for him in plain terms if she wanted to be able to get anywhere with him, maybe even then he still wouldn't listen to her.

"Merle, Merle Dixon sweetpea, now, about them painkillers…"

As Evangeline turned to pick the box up from her backpack, she could hear the fist in the air before she saw it, and she was already regretting her choice to be nice to this guy and she was hopeful now that his wound would get infected as she knew what his plan was, and she caught it too late to stop him from doing it. When her face turned of its own accord and against her better judgement to see the source of the noise, Merle's fist connected sharply with her nose, and she felt a blinding pain, before a blackness swirled over her and she groaned lightly as she slumped over onto the dusty wooden floor outside the staff kitchen.

"Sorry darlin'." He smirked "A shame to mess up that pretty face of yours."

Now, knowing that the girl was blacked out, Merle picked through her backpack taking what he needed, which was her water, her painkillers and the food and flashlight that she was carrying, he spent a long time looking for her weapons, but upon finding none of them gave up and quickly moved out of the department store, and over towards the main route out of town, he had a little business to take care of with his little brother.


	2. We Three Kings

Brain Dead, Chapter Two.

Evangeline felt herself rousing from the blackness that she had encountered with a small yawn, oh goddamn it did she fall asleep after that? That's just great, she could have been surrounded by walkers and eaten in the time that she was taking a little cat nap on the floor of this place. Groaning a little she sat up and clutched at her head, opening her eyes she promptly let out a small scream, a walker head was pinned directly onto the wall in front of her, literally centimetres away, trying to get her wits back under control, she stood up shakily and wandered over to the head, it was still snapping weakly at her and she flipped a knife out, stabbing it through the skull and watching it fall still, seeing a note pinned with the head she sighed.

Taking the pin out she grimaced as she felt the blood and other liquid she didn't even want to think about from the walker plip onto her hand as she took the note out from the pin, throwing that aside as well, the note was written in the most untidy writing and she thought that at least 75% of the words on it were spelt wrong. From what she could make out it was from that bastard who knocked her out, touching her nose gingerly, that soon became the least of her problems as she swore loudly and rushed to her backpack.

The bastard had taken all of her supplies!

Not having had a drink in more than a day now, she wanted that water she had been saving and now it was gone she began to panic, she needed something to drink, Evangeline could tell that she was weak and she needed to regain her energy back. Taking deep breaths in and out, she muttered to herself to calm down, she needed to keep a level head and get a hold of the situation at hand, being panicked would do nothing for her except get her hurt, or worse. So, with that she closed her eyes and wandered through the kitchen area, seeing that it had mostly been ransacked, Evangeline slumped slightly, but checked anyway.

Opening a few cupboards she found tins of fruit that had been left there, perfect, she grinned to herself and as she opened one of the cans she swiftly drank the juice that was in there first, it was a welcome taste on her dry mouth and made her feel instantly better. Letting her fingers pick up the rings of pineapple Evangeline savoured them, not knowing when her next meal was going to come, yet she was too hungry not to eat the rest of the fruit in the can, she still needed more nutrients, she couldn't carry on eating this little.

Now, the tin empty, she threw it aside and took the small box of crackers out of the cupboard, before removing the rest of the tins of fruit and shoving them in her backpack, she needed to take all that she could find, however disgusting she would have thought it was when she was able to pick and choose what food she would have eaten, peaches and tinned oranges were not her favourite things in the world, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Since she was here, she took the time to check out some of the washing facilities, there was a staff shower and after checking that the area was secure, she nipped inside and tried to turn on the water. After the initial gunk came out, much to Evangeline's disgust, she was overjoyed to see that the water coming out was clean, and it was slightly warm, quickly she stripped out of her clothes and eagerly washed herself in the warm water, which although got colder and colder and the shower less powerful, she was grateful for none the less. Taking a clean tshirt out of her back pack she towelled herself dry with the older one, before throwing it aside, she could pick new clothes up from the stock room or the rest of the store downstairs before she left. Pulling on her denim shorts, and her leather boots, Evangeline let her hair dry on its own, it was a boy cut, and it would take about 5 minutes in this heat which hadn't seemed to let up any overnight.

Opening the door to the bathroom Evangeline heard movement, and she quickly let her eyes narrow, taking one of her knives out of the holster she had fixed on her leg, she walked, slowly, and carefully through the halls, hearing people in the room she had just been in, she was secretly glad that she was able to listen to what they were talking about, so she could tell if they were friendly or not friendly and decide on the appropriate action, before she got herself into anything bad again. The bruise on her nose was enough to attest to that train of thought. Keeping her ears sharp in case they decided to move off, Evangeline pressed her ear to the wall once more and listened.

"The trail of blood goes in here…" one of them commented, he sounded Southern just like the man who had been here last night, and she found that her interest was piqued by the conversation, maybe they were related or something and he was looking for him? Who knew. Maybe she would find out soon enough however.

"He must have used this to cauterise the wound." Another man spoke, in disbelief, that was the exact same feeling that she had gone through when she had found out what had happened to the man, Merle if she recalled correctly, she still couldn't believe someone had managed to survive cutting their hand off, even if she didn't know how or why he had done it.

"I told you, it wouldn't let it stop him." The other man stated, before shouting "Merle!" and it was then that Evangeline knew that they were looking for the same man that had been here last night, and she thought that she had better pop her head around the corner and tell them just what had gone down last night, maybe they would find what she had to say, however limited that might be, useful in some manner.

As she threaded two more knives through her fingers, she stepped around the doorframe with them held out, her backpack over her shoulder, she found that there were three men in the room instead of just the two that she had heard talking about the missing person they were apparently looking for. It was the third man, an Asian, who pointed her out and drew his gun shakily, the other men followed suit and she narrowed her eyes at the two who seemed more confident with a fire arm, they would be the biggest threats if this turned nasty, which she was preparing for. No, she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice not like yesterday.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a cool tone, her voice was clipped, she didn't want to give any impression that the men were welcome around her, not like last night where her nice approach had failed massively.

"We could ask you the same question!" the other Southern man exclaimed, brandishing his crossbow at her, well, the two certainly acted like they were related, and Evangeline wondered if the other man was the 'leader' of the group, he would seem to be from the way they were all standing, but she couldn't be sure, nor did she actually really care about this little group of survivors, travelling in larger groups drew more attention, made things more dangerous, at least in her experience anyway.

Seeing that this was going to be sort of a stand-off situation, Evangeline did not lower her weapons, but the other man, the one who she had also seen talking turned and gave some sort of signal to the group and they all hesitantly lowered their weapons, and she supposed that it was only right that she did the same thing, she didn't want to make the atmosphere any more tense than it already was, it spoke of violence and she didn't really want to get her clean clothes dirty. Slipping her knives back into her holster she crossed her arms and looked up at the three men with a quirked eyebrow.

"Now let's all just…calm down." The dark haired man stated, trying to diffuse the situation "We're here looking for one of the members of our group, you haven't seen him while you've been here, have you?" he asked Evangeline, noting that she seemed a little young to be on her own around here, so he thought that he should keep his guard up for an older person who might still be in the area, maybe she had her own group as well? He couldn't rule out that possibility.

"There was someone here last night yes, when I came here I saw him, spoke with him for a little while." She elaborated, not letting all the details go just yet, after all, it was something that she wanted to keep to her chest as long as possible, maybe they would give her something for the information if she played her cards right, she could see the Southern man and the Asian perk up a little bit with the information, although she wondered just why the Asian seemed so happy…maybe he just didn't fancy wandering around walker infested streets to find this guy.

"Tell us where he went then dumbass." The Southerner demanded, stepping forwards and attempting to seem more authorative than he really came across, he just came across as slightly intimidating, but nothing that Evangeline couldn't handle she had gone through worse with the other encounters she had had with humans along the road.

"I am not telling you anything, I don't even know your names, why should I trust you?" she asked, her eyes narrowed as if she was daring any of them to counter what she had just said, they all knew that it was true, why would she trust them? Why would they trust her? They could all easily be lying about the things they were telling each other, but at times like these, Evangeline wished she had more faith in humanity, but, perhaps it was a good thing, that she didn't.

The leader of the group stepped forwards and extended his hand towards Evangeline, before stating; "My name is Rick, this is Glenn and this is Daryl."

He gestured to each of the group members in turn, before waiting as if asking silently for her to complete the formalities by giving them her name, Evangeline wondered if she should or not, but, didn't believe it was going to be that big of a problem, she wouldn't be seeing these guys again anyway, so what was the harm?

"I'm Evangeline."

With that she took his hand in her own and shook it firmly, letting her eyes lock with his own for a moment, and she drew it away soon afterwards. She could sense that they weren't going to leave without answers, and she supposed if the roles were reversed, neither would she.


	3. A Solemn Threat

Hey guys!

First authors note just to say, things aren't exactly following the canon story line to the letter in this story, although it does follow the general arc, like T-Dog is missing in this mission, and Glenn isn't captured : )

Just thought I would tell all you lovely readers so you don't think I left them out by accident, now enjoy the new chapter! ^^

Brain Damage, Chapter 3.

Tension still ran through the four people stood in the middle of the staff kitchen, the sunlight streamed through the windows in patches, the dust blocking the light from fully reaching the inside of the room, giving it an odd almost eerie and decaying look about it, trying not to let her mind wander onto things like that, Evangeline gestured towards the other seats that were laying around the room, the main sets of comfortable chairs although a little old and lumpy, were still better than standing when they already looked like they were pretty exhausted. Taking one of them for herself, setting her backpack down, Evangeline waited to see if they were going to start asking questions, about the man that they had seemingly lost, although she didn't understand how that could happen, especially when he was injured like that, she wouldn't let one of her party out of her sight in that condition.

All three man came and took the seats opposite her, and Evangeline almost sighed, it was looking more like the inquisition with each movement they took, now all they needed was a spotlight to shine in her eyes and a stainless steel desk to cuff her to while they asked her probing questions. But she readied herself to answer anything that they put her way, she didn't even know that much, so she wasn't sure how much of a help she was going to be to them, and she didn't want them to kick off because of the lack of information she actually had.

"Would you mind telling us what happened?" Rick asked, seeming to take the lead in the situation, probably knowing that Glenn wasn't quite articulate enough in situations like this, or he didn't seem to be anyway, and that Daryl would most likely let this end up in fisticuffs and they would leave without the information that they wanted, she found herself smirking internally, so she was right, he was the leader of the group after all.

"I came here, around 6 o clock last night, it was getting dark and I was looking for a place to secure and sleep for the night, I had scoped this place out before and it looked safe enough, there were still some walkers here when I arrived but I managed to sneak past th-"

"We don't want to hear about your fucking journey, just get to the part where you met my fucking brother, alright girlie?" Daryl burst out.

Evangeline's cold eyes landed on him for a few seconds, letting him know that she did not appreciate the outburst that he had just given her and she hoped that in the rest of the conversation he would take Rick's advice and keep his mouth shut, seeming to sense the atmosphere growing tense, Glenn laughed somewhat nervously and spoke;

"I think Daryl's just anxious because we have to be heading back soon and we haven't found Merle yet, sorry about that." He grinned, trying to cover up for his comrades insults, and Evangeline caught the look Rick gave Daryl, as if telling him to 'shut the hell up' and she found herself smirking outwardly now, served the bastard right for talking to her like that when she was only trying to help him find the man that they had lost, she guessed they might have been brothers or something, but she hadn't actually asked.

"Like I was saying, I went up the stairs there to this staff area and I smelt burning skin, and when I listened out I heard that it was someone healing a wound of theirs, I was standing just behind that wall there, and when Merle came out, he spotted me. We talked for a little bit, nothing too detailed, I offered him water, painkillers for his wound which looked really bad…and he knocked me out. Next thing I know I wake up here this morning, this walker head pinned to the wall and this note, saying 'Thanks for the stuff sweetpea, maybe I'll come back for you after my business is done, and gotten my pansy-ass brother.' Who I'm guessing is you." Evangeline nodded towards Daryl.

After hearing what happened all three men shared a look and Evangeline wondered what it meant, but it didn't look good whatever it was, she was still secretly enjoying the fact that the loud mouth Daryl had been called a pansy by his brother, maybe they weren't the closest of families when it came down to it. Then again, it was none of her business to pry into the personal life of this guy just because she had been knocked out by his brother, that was still a sore point for Evangeline, why couldn't she have just seen it coming?!

Rick looked back at Evangeline, it did truly seem like she was on her own, and she seemed to like it that way, but they could use more fighters at the camp, things were getting ugly around here and they were losing members faster than they were gaining them, maybe he could persuade her to come along with them? At least for the time being…who knows what Merle might be doing back at the camp. Speaking of which, they couldn't afford to waste any more time if that was the 'business' that he had described in his note to Evangeline, which now hung limply in his grip. Placing it in his pocket he stood up, and gripped his pistol slightly, in a comforting motion.

"I know you don't owe us any favours, but, we could really use your help Evangeline." Rick stated much to the surprise of the other members of the group, Daryl almost exploded in Rick's face and she found it highly amusing when he exclaimed;

"We don't need no pansy ass Brit to help us with this, we got this! We don't even know if she can fight worth a dam, I sure as hell 'ain't babysitting no teenage brat."

Evangeline didn't even know if she wanted to go and help the guys, but she knew she needed more food and more supplies, maybe if she agreed to help these guys with their problem they would give her some of the things she needed as a reward, maybe she would put that to them, it didn't seem like they had much time, so the pleasantries were going to have to go out the window in order to get what she wanted, before she started on this mission to help these guys out. Realising that she now seemed to be doing the same as yesterday, placing her trust in strangers again, Evangeline sighed lightly, after vowing she wouldn't make the same mistake not half an hour ago.

"I guess I'll help you find this guy, stop whatever he's doing, but I want some food, and I want some water and more supplies as my payment, you understand?" she asked, plainly ignoring Daryl's outburst like you would ignore a child's tantrum, if you paid them more attention they would just continue to kick off at you until he got what he want, or things got out of hand, and that was what she thought Daryl might be like to strangers, or maybe to everyone around him.

Rick and Glenn looked at each other, and they both seemed to agree that this was a good deal and nodded their heads, much to the distain of Daryl who shouted;

"What the hell people?!"

"Shut up Daryl." Rick instructed, harshly.

"Come on guys, if we're going to get back to camp to help them out, we best do it sooner rather than later." Glenn pointed out, and Evangeline nodded, agreeing with him, although he seemed to be rather quiet, when he did speak he made an awful lot of sense, and she could tell that he was an invaluable asset to the larger group that Rick and his comrades were talking about.

"Glenn's right, let's move out. Evangeline you get our backs, watch for any walkers, Daryl and I will go at the front, and clear the way for us. Glenn, go and scout ahead, if the front is too crowded, we'll use the back exit." Rick commanded and I pulled out three of my throwing knifes letting my fingers curl through the metal loops at the top, getting ready to throw them if needs be when we started the decent through the shop and out into the city beyond.

Trying her best to ignore Daryl's grumbling Evangeline calmed herself down, and when Glenn returned, stating it was best to use the back entrance, she readied herself to put down some walker asses, as soon as Rick gave them the signal to move out, they began to walk swiftly and silently down the stairs towards the back of the department store. She wondered, if Daryl was always this hostile, or if it was because of the fact his brother was missing and hurt? Either way, she hoped he would calm down soon enough, it was already beginning to grate on her. Her mind turned to thoughts of the group…how many would be there? Maybe…maybe she had enough of being alone…she had been solo for months now, and she needed to make sure that didn't scatter her wits, so who knew, maybe she'd change her mind about what prize she got at the end of this little 'mission'.


	4. Following the Leader

_Hey guys! :D_

_This is just a little note to say that I and my partner nefislab are writing this story as a joint effort, here is his first chapter! It's long to compensate for the fact I splurged out and did three before he could catch up! XD_

_Enjoy! :D_

Rick's POV

Rick gritted his teeth as they approached the back door to the department store. It was all well and good putting a front up in front of the people he was leading but he was starting to feel the strain. The strain of leadership and all of its burdens. Being the leader, even if it was just of this small section of the larger group for now, was rather scary. He was responsible for the safety of Glenn, Daryl and now Daryl too. How was he supposed to just deal with the fact that at any minute they could die and it would be his fault?

His right hand gripped his handgun tighter as he tried to push the doubts from his mind. What he did not need were doubts clogging up his mind when it mattered the most. A clear head would give him the killing shot on a zombie or let him make the right decision to save the lives of the people following him rather than doom them by leading them in completely the wrong direction, or into a dead end.

Reaching the back door, Rick was suddenly aware that everyone was looking at him. Glenn was afraid but he was looking at him like he could get him through this safely. In that instant he hated Glenn. How could he just pile on all that pressure? How could he just trust his safety to him? He didn't want that kind of responsibility. But the moment was over and he didn't hate Glenn anymore. He understood that the small man just needed someone that he could look to, someone who would give him advice that was both practical and morally right.

Thankfully Daryl only expected him to take out as many Walkers as he could. As far as he could tell he had some measure of Daryl's respect but that was all. Evangeline… was new. She was hard to read but he knew that she wasn't expecting anything too much from him. She just expected him to follow through on their deal, which he would. Just as soon as they were out of here. Holding his gun at the ready, he nodded to Glenn because he was closest to the door. Glenn nodded back and opened the door, pushing it wide open before stepping to the side.

Bursting through the door and into the back alley, Rick immediately scanned the area for any threats, Walker or human. There were three Walkers in the alleyway. Thankful that there were only three of them, and apparently only one had noticed them. He nodded to Daryl. The southerner was the one with the quietest weapon after all and they really didn't want to attract more attention than they had to. Watching the mouth of the alleyway as Daryl shot a crossbow bolt clean into a Walker's eye; Rick was beginning to get a little bit twitchy about the fact that some of the Walkers seemed to be turning in the direction of the alleyway.

He was so focused on the mouth of the alleyway that he didn't notice the final Walker getting almost on top of him until he heard it snarl hungrily. Panicking slightly, he tried to back away quickly. Before he could think of what to do the Walker grunted once in pain before falling to the ground, dead again. Sticking out the temple of the Walker's skull was a throwing knife that he vaguely recognised. Pulling it out of the Walker, he handed it back to Evangeline, who was looking rather unimpressed with their fighting style so far. Truth be told he was more than a little embarrassed by the incident,

"Thanks for the save."

He waited for a response but Evangeline just nodded and turned away, looking for anymore threats. Taking her lead, Rick did the same and saw that there were dozens of Walkers shambling their way down towards them. Swearing a little bit, he saw that Daryl had switched his crossbow for a shotgun and Glenn was nervously readying his own shotgun to fire. Looking around frantically for a way out of the alley, Rick spotted a chain-link fence that blocked the alleyway off from the dry land that represented the outer city. He looked through the fence and smiled widely. The car they'd taken to get her was visible from here. All they needed to do was clear this fence and then make a little dash for it across the field. He turned to his companions,

"Hold them off!" he told them, "I'm getting us out of here!"

Rick didn't look back to see if his command was followed, he just got to work.

Daryl's POV

Now this was a bad situation for Daryl because although he was a crack shot with his crossbow, there were just way too many Walkers for him to fight them all off with it. The reload was a bitch when it came to that weapon and even if he made every shot a perfect headshot he didn't have nearly enough bolts for all of these Walkers. It was easy for Rick to tell them to hold them all off but in reality he knew that he was the only one who could reasonably be expected to do well in this situation.

Evangeline, even if she was any good, would be limited by the fact that she only had four throwing knives and two combat knives. He could tell she was a mid-range fighter and without a gun of some kind she was closer to be defenceless that even Glenn. And Daryl knew that Glenn, although a decent shot, was prone to nerves. If the Walkers got any closer, which they would do, then Glenn's shots were going to get wilder and wilder until he wasn't even aiming at the heads anymore.

Daryl gritted his teeth in annoyance as he pumped his shotgun and took aim. Firing once, a Walker's head disappeared in a spray of red gore that painted those around it. The unmoving body of the headless Walker tripped dozens of other Walkers, all of which were too stupid to get out of the way. Taking this as a good omen, Daryl really started laying into the Walkers, firing shot after shot into their slowly shuffling ranks. Walker after Walker fell to his well-placed shots, dozens more staggering back at having been hit by some of the spray from his shells.

Pausing to reload, Daryl noted that Glenn was firing consistently but was failing more than a little bit. The guy had trouble hitting the head of a moving target at the best of times but when they were shuffling towards him in such a large group, Daryl couldn't help but think the Chinaman's chances of getting out of this one alive were low. Unfortunately his survival might depend on Glenn's continued firing and his continued breathing. That meant that he was going to have to save the guy's worthless ass in order to save his own. Scowling as he finished reloading and pumped the shotgun, he turned to Glenn,

"Chinaman!" he growled, "Get one a' those wheely bin things! Yer use it as a ram… push the fuckers back man!"

Daryl was not known for his military strategy but he was an excellent hunter. And one thing you learnt when you were a hunter was that when you had to hunt the dangerous game, you boxed them in. You restricted their movements so that you were free to take them down however you wanted. Of course these things required bait. Gritting his teeth as Glenn went to get the large wheelie bin from the side of the department store, Daryl moved forwards and began to fire rapidly, as fast as he could,

"Yer want something to eat?!" he called out to the Walkers, drawing their attention with the volume of his challenge, "Genuine home grown beef right here yer ugly fuckers!"

He ran out of shells fairly quickly at his increased rate and swore loudly. Noting that he still needed time to cover for Glenn, and now Evangeline apparently, and the bin, Daryl turned the shotgun round in his hands and rammed the butt of it into the head of the nearest Walker, cracking it's skull clean open. Another one lunged for him and Daryl had to kick it away savagely, making it knock over several more on its way backwards. The Walkers were getting closer when he heard the sound of wheels on tarmac behind him getting closer. Waiting until the last minute, he dove to the side as the wheelie bin was rammed into the thin alleyway; smashing into the sea of Walkers and driving them all back as one.

Daryl looked and saw both Glenn and Evangeline pushing at the bin with all their might, pushing back the seemingly relentless tide of the Walkers. The bin was big enough that it blocked most of the very narrow alleyway too, leaving only enough room for one Walker to squeeze through on either side. Reloading his shotgun, he started shooting the ones who tried to make it through the gaps, keeping the alley plugged up. As he reached into his pocket for more shells, Daryl noticed that they were a lot scarcer in number,

"Whatever yer gunna do, do it now Rick!" he called out angrily towards the 'leader' of this little expedition, "Get us outta here ye damn pig!"

Rick's POV

Growling in frustration and exertion, Rick pushed the solid metal dumpster closer to the chain-link fence. Annoyingly enough they'd left their bolt cutters where they'd cut through the fence before. Which was halfway across town and through a large mob of Walkers. So he had no way of cutting through the chains in the fence and a burning desire not to be eaten alive. Seeing the only thing available to him now that Daryl had taken the wheelie bin to use as a ram was a metal dumpster… he'd decided it was their only real shot at getting out of here.

When it was near enough to the fence he found another issue. The edge they'd had to stand on to jump over the fence was rather small and he had no doubt that the Walkers would be knocking the dumpster, wobbling in all the time. That would probably cause at least one of them to fall either into the dumpster or into the mob of Walkers. Considering that the dumpster was actually empty both options ended with the person's skull being cracked open. He paused. There was only one way this was going to work now.

Rick gripped the edge of the dumpster and pulled downwards with all of his might. Slowly, ever so slowly, the dumpster moved up until it was resting on its side. By this time Daryl and the others had some idea of what he was aiming to do. Glenn and Evangeline rushed over to help him while Daryl tried to keep the Walkers at bay. While it was on its side, the three of them moved to the back of it and pushed, knocking it over so that it now lay on the ground, bottom up. Rick moved round again and his helpers followed, giving him a hand as they positioned the upturned dumpster against the fence. Rick grunted with satisfaction as he helped both Glenn and Evangeline up onto the dumpster,

"Daryl!" he called out, getting the hunter's attention, "You're up next! Get your ass out of there!"

Needing no further prompting apparently, Daryl accepted the leg up offered to him and turned before offering his hand to Rick. The 'leader' took the hand and the help up on top of the dumpster. Looking back, Rick cursed when he saw Walkers streaming around the sides of the wheelie bin, making their way to the dumpster. He nodded to the fence,

"Go go go!" he commanded them all, "Evangeline and then Daryl! Then me and Glenn!"

Daryl was the first one over, vaulting the fence now that the dumpster made him level with the top of it. When he was at the bottom he held his arms out and caught Evangeline before setting her down and leading her towards their parked car at a run. Rick nodded to Glenn and the Asian delivery boy jumped over the fence a second before Rick himself did. It just so happened to be the right time as the Walkers were pressing hard against the fence. Glenn moaned in pain,

"Ah fuck man!" he groaned, "I think I twisted my ankle… fucking hurts man!"

Rick swore as he turned back to Glenn and the fence. The sheer number of Walkers pressing against the fence was threatening to break the entire thing from the concrete. Seeing no other choice that he could live with after this, Rick leant down before picking Glenn up. With Glenn slung over his shoulder, Rick started to move as fast as he could to the car where Daryl was already inside with Evangeline just getting in.

Half way between the car and the fence, the Walkers broke it down, pouring forwards like a never ending sea of decaying bodies. Glenn shouted a warning in his ear and Rick focused on the car, running as fast as he could now with Glenn on his shoulder. Daryl was taking shots at the faster Walkers with his crossbow to give them more time as Evangeline waited at the wheel, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Of course that was to be expected considering the mob of Walkers following Rick and Glenn.

Reaching the car, Daryl opened the door wide from the inside as they approached. Rick grunted before taking Glenn off his shoulder and half-throwing him into the backseat. No time to be nice and friendly about it when they had Walkers snapping at their heels. Diving in after Glenn just before a Walker could grab his shirt, Rick almost laughed for joy when Evangeline hit the accelerator, speeding them away from their diseased enemies. Closing the door as both he and Glenn sat up properly; Rick couldn't help but lower his head at his performance. His first outing as a real 'leader' and it had very nearly ended in disaster. He was a failure.

The sound of laughter, desperate but relieved, filled the car and Rick blinked in confusion. Why were they laughing? They couldn't be laughing. Looking up though, he saw that it was true. Glenn was laughing like a madman while even Daryl and Evangeline were chuckling away to themselves. The kind of laughter that came from escaping the jaws of death unscathed. Glenn patted him on the back and grinned gratefully,

"You really saved my ass back there man…" he paused before smirking slightly, "Even if it was in danger because of you."

Rick laughed a little bit himself but before he could say anything Daryl threw at beer in the back and he caught it on reflex. The southerner smirked,

"When yer almost die but don'… that's worth celebrating." He told the little group, making sure that everyone had a can of beer. Rick opened his own bud and held it up as Daryl did the same. Glenn raised his and Evangeline slowed down enough to raise her own. The cop in Rick hoped she wasn't going to have more than the ceremonial sip for the toast, "To bein alive!"

It was simple and he loved it. Rick grinned,

"To being alive."


	5. Returning to Camp

Brain Damage, Chapter Five.

Evangeline was more than happy to be driving away from the Walkers now, instead of being in the middle of them, although she wouldn't say it, the whole thing had gone to the dogs, it looked like Rick already blamed himself enough without adding more to that, what would be the point? With a small sigh she realised quickly that she had no idea where she was going, she was just driving out of Atlanta and attempting not to create too much noise by revving or going too quickly. The look that Rick had given her when she had drank the beer while driving was amusing, she had to struggle not to laugh, the world had gone to shit and he still cared that she was drinking and driving? It was funny to her.

Letting her gaze shift up to the sky for a moment she realised how dark it was getting and she hoped that she wouldn't have to fight in these conditions, after all, it would be easy to miss a walker, and one was all it took in the end. Stopping on the highway, Evangeline earned looks of confusion from the other passengers in the car and she smirked a little bit, deciding that the beer had probably been working its magic on them while she had been driving; oddly, she had actually been concentrating on what she was doing.

"You know I don't have a clue about where I'm going." She stared with a raised eyebrow, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world "So you're going to have to give me directions, or one of you is going to have to drive."

It was Glenn who decided that he would swap with her and drive, much to the amusement of Daryl who decided to make some sort of racist comment about the Chinese and their driving skills, the mini argument that ensued made Evangeline roll her eyes and she kicked the back of Glenn's chair, as if trying to break it up. They had to act fast after all, now was not the time to be squabbling over stupid comments when people could be in danger. It seemed that her glare was enough to spur the man into action, the engine flared back into life and they were off again.

"What is it you guys actually think that Merle's going to do?" she asked, wanting to know what she was getting herself in for.

"I 'ain't got no fuckin' clue but they deserve what they get, leavin' him on the roof like tha'." Daryl muttered, more to himself than in answer to her question, however, Evangeline heard, and she wondered if the brothers were closer than she had thought that they would have been, who knows what they would have been through together.

"You didn't do it on purpose though? Did you?" she asked Rick, narrowing her eyes a little bit, as if daring him to say that it was, because anyone who left a guy on a roof to starve and dehydrate, was sick in her book, why didn't they just stick around and help him get free? Then again, maybe he deserved it, she didn't know.

"We did cuff him to the roof for a reason." Rick hissed, more at Daryl's comment than Evangeline's question "One of the members of our group dropped the handcuff keys, we couldn't retrieve them in time, so we were forced to leave him." He explained and Evangeline nodded, the guy had certainly seemed like an asshole the time that she met him, however brief that might have been.

Making sure that she took in her surroundings Evangeline moved her gaze from Daryl, to the scenery passing by, they seemed to be headed up into a more wooded area, it looked like a quarry of some sort but she couldn't tell in the dark, all she could see was the light from the headlamps, and even that was turned off soon afterwards they didn't want to attract Walkers to the camp that mightn't already be there. Gripping her throwing knives, Evangeline readied herself for when she would need to get out of the car, but she figured that would be any time now, Glenn was slowing down, and Daryl and Rick were getting ready to jump out of the car also.

It was then that they heard it.

There were the sounds of screaming carrying on the wind, and that was it, the men were up out of the car in a flash and she followed shortly after. It seemed that she was right, there was some sort of walker attack going on and it was going to be messy, it was in the dark and it would have crept upon the group unawares.

No words were exchanged, the group merely rushed towards the noise, and when they came upon the group they sprung into action, Rick and Daryl started taking out walkers left right and centre, from what Evangeline could see there were already corpses littering the clearing. Some of them looked pretty bad. Deciding she had better help before things decided to go even further to hell, Evangeline struggled to use her knives in the dark, but managed to take out a few walkers who looked like they were headed to take out a few chunks out of a small huddle of people hiding by the RV.

Without knowing what had happened with the rest of the groups perspective, Evangeline turned and she saw that all the walkers were dead, or getting taken care of. The attack had happened so fast, and everyone had been so efficient, Evangeline didn't even have a chance to panic much about anything, everyone just seemed to handle themselves. Although, she was glad not to have been completely redundant, she did want to help. Even though she had been travelling solo for a long time, Evangeline didn't want to stand by and let people die when she could help.

Looking from Rick, to Daryl, to Glenn, and then to the rest of the group, Evangeline felt very out of place, these people were grieving, she couldn't just take her supplies and get off now could she? She just needed to stick around until they were in a better position, and she knew that Rick would stick by his deal if he needed to.

"Where the hell were you?" a rather irate black haired man hissed at Rick "Man I told you something like this was going to happen when you left but…but you just went anyway."

"Without these guns," Rick hissed back, in an even more forceful tone, if that was in fact possible "We would have had more losses, we wouldn't have come out of this as well as we have now, so don't start pointing the blame around here."

People seemed to be paying attention to this argument, and as such, was now paying attention to her, and there were whispers about who exactly she was. This was going to be fun she could just tell she was going to be the centre of a really big ass argument in the morning, but right now, everyone was a little bit pre-occupied with something else.

"Who the hell is this?" the ass, otherwise known as Shane, asked frustratedly "So you, so you bring some stranger to our camp but then you can't stick around to take care of your own?" he asked in a disbelieving voice, before storming off no doubt to give someone else a hard time.

Evangeline rolled her eyes, he couldn't have just asked her who she was, no? With a small sigh she looked to Rick, as if asking what she should do, because she sure as hell wasn't going to be wandering outside now that there were walkers milling around, it wasn't safe. So if she was going to be staying here she would be requiring somewhere to stay. It seemed to take Rick a few minutes to get his shit together, understandable, and he sent Glenn off to go and help with the clean up, and Daryl off to go and check for more walkers in the woods, much to his distain. Evangeline tended to agree with him, hunting in the dark was no good, especially when what you are hunting is trying to hunt you too.

"You uh….go and stay in the RV for tonight, tell Dale that I uh…that I said you should." Rick mumbled "I got some stuff to deal with."

Merely nodding at what he had to say, Evangeline wandered over to the RV, she was bruised from Merle's punch, the walker fight at the store, and the walker fight now, she did not look pretty. But at least she was safe, for now.


	6. Broken

Brain Damage, Chapter 6.

Evangeline awoke, after a rather crap sleep sat at the table in the RV, it was full of people moving and doing things around her and so she was woken up every few hours by someone jostling her or speaking too loudly around her, by the end of it she was seriously considering sleeping on top of the RV just to escape all the noise that people were making. It must have been around seven when she finally decided enough was enough and she had better get up and start to see what was going on around this little 'camp'.

For a moment she wondered if she should even bother to stay here, it was obvious that people were dubious about her already, and if she did stay here she would probably keep to herself, which was the way she had worked things in the past anyway. Sticking with a group only made you slow, and when you were slow you got into trouble. Sighing lightly she wandered into the bathroom of the RV and looked at herself in the small mirror, wow, she looked even more like hell than she thought. Hoping to get a wash at least, Evangeline brushed her hair and got ready to 'face the day'. She would much rather go back to bed and sleep.

Raising her eyebrow, when she saw what was one of the group laying on the sofa in the RV, at least there was someone here who looked worse than her. He groaned out a request for water and she looked around the cabin, why was he being left on his own? Someone should be with him at all times it looked like he had the…he had the fever didn't he? Sighing, Evangeline tipped the cup of water to his lips with a little smile;

"Hey there, my name's Evangeline." She introduced herself in a soft cooing voice

"T-thanks there Evangeline." He smiled back weakly "You 'ain't afraid huh, most people don't want to talk to me now I…"

"I think someone should be here with you." She stated with a small frown "Although I have to go and find Rick, you want someone in particular?"

"No…no anyone will do." He stated with that same weak smile

"Alright I'll see you later…?" Evangeline asked, hoping he would tell her his name before she left, she was quite offended that the group had decided to leave him on his own, this man needed attention, these could be some of his last moments after all.

"Jim." He replied, before closing his eyes, turning his head away from Evangeline with a faint moan on his lips.

After finding out something like that, she was shaken by the morals of the group, although perhaps the person looking after him had just gone to the toilet or something and she'd caught them at a bad moment. Opening the door of the RV she was about to step out when she noticed there was a person laying directly by the door to the RV. They were dead that much was obvious, walker bite to the neck, and someone who looked like they might be related to her, was kneeling beside her. She didn't even look up when Evangeline hopped over the body to get out of the RV, maybe she was still in shock? Either way, something needed doing about the body, before it came back.

Rick was sitting by the ashes of the fire, with Shane, Daryl, and a woman she had never met before. Sighing a little bit as she approached, the others seemed to be deep in conversation about something, or rather someone, the two girls by the RV. They were having the same thoughts she was, that something needed to be done about the girl who had died, there was no trauma to the head yet, and that needed to happen when she came back, before, but it just needed to happen.

"Morning Evangeline." Rick greeted with a half-hearted wave, the rest of the group didn't bother to introduce themselves much to Evangeline's distaste.

"Good morning Rick, Daryl." She stated with a nod to each one, leaving out the other two people because quite frankly, she didn't like Shane, and she didn't know who the other woman was, nor had she been bothered to tell her herself.

"This is Shane who you met last night, and my wife Lori." Rick introduced, with some reluctance, and Evangeline's eyebrows raised a little bit, so the sheriff was married then? That was a surprise that was for sure, she had expected him to be the single testosterone fuelled leader of the group, although that seemed to be Shane in reality.

"Pleased to meet you." Evangeline hummed "I wanted to talk to you about getting my supplies."

This simple statement seemed to strike different chords within the group, and Evangeline rolled her eyes, it seemed that they had been talking about her too in her absence, it's not like she wasn't expecting it, she was just thinking that they might be a little bit more subtle about telling her their thoughts rather than just letting them explode over her the first time they saw her after she arrived.

"Look, Evangeline," Shane stated, and immediately she knew what he was going to say "We 'ain't in no place to be giving away supplies, we got ourselves in a tricky situation here, now we appreciate your help and all that but, we can't give you anything."

"Rick and I made a deal, I help him, I get supplies. I helped him, now I want my supplies, your thoughts on the matter are irrelevant." Evangeline stated, quite emotionlessly, it was to her a matter of business, she had helped them, their bargain was intact on her end and now she wanted what had been promised to her.

Hearing a snicker from Daryl, made Evangeline grin his way, it was rather a burn what she had just said, but she was pretty sure that the guy was an asshole, and he would deserve it for something or other. It just seemed to make Shane all the more hostile, and less likely to give Evangeline the supplies she wanted, and the woman, Lori, was seeming to get rather agitated about what she had said as well.

"We've just lost, so many people from our group, and now you want to make off with our supplies and leave us?" she hissed at Evangeline from her seat on a nearby log.

"I'm sorry about what happened last night, but you understand that was neither my fault nor my concern, I helped where I could to save lives as anyone would." Evangeline stated, crossing her arms about her chest and fixing Rick with a very, very pointed stare "Are you going to abide by our deal, or are you not?"

Rick ran his hands through his hair, the guy looked stressed and beaten to the ground but Evangeline was pissed off, how dare he let down his end of the bargain just because these guys had come along and decided that he couldn't see it through any more. Daryl however just seemed to be content sitting there making new arrows for his crossbow, not saying a word, it would have been nice to have someone stick up for her, but Evangeline should have known better. Of course she would be ripped off when they got back to their group.

"Evangeline, I know I made you a deal, and…and maybe I wasn't in the best place to make that deal, but right now we just haven't got the supplies to spare." He stated, sounded like he was imploring her to see it from their point of view, but Evangeline was not trying to see anything from a different point of view than her own, which was quite simple really.

"So…basically what you're saying is that you lied?" she asked "I got dragged through two shit loads of walkers, to help you, for nothing?" Evangeline asked again, her tone was rising, and she was becoming more angry than she had done in a long while "Damn I knew I shouldn't have bloody trusted you."

"Now now calm down!" Rick urged, but that just made her even more angry than she was before.

"Calm down?! Calm down?!" she all but screeched "I thought you were the leader of this group, but you've been played like a fool by these two right here." Evangeline gestured to Lori and Shane "So if you're not going to abide by our promise, what are you going to do?" she hissed at the group members sitting around the fire.

"Hey I tol' ya she was gonna be angry." Daryl hummed, looking up from his whittling "You woul' be too if ya'll were in her position."

"Well we were hoping since we're kind of down on protection right now, you wouldn't mind staying with the group for a little while, and when we get the supplies you want you can just take them and leave then, or you can carry on staying with the group it's up to you." Rick offered, a little meakly, as if it ashamed him to go back on his deal, well it should goddamn shame him! Evangeline thought, still too angry to think straight.

"So you want to keep me here to do more favours for you until I get what I was originally promised?" she scoffed "Right because that sounds fair to me. What do I get, the seat in the RV where people keep waking me up every five minutes, the scraggy left overs of food cause nobody in your group likes me? Sounds real fair to me."

"Maybe you should just go then?" Lori sneered "Honestly by the state of you, you don't look like you could protect us anyway, and all you've done since you've come here is complain, we'd be better without you."

"What did you just say?" Evangeline asked, deadly calm, but she was interrupted again by Daryl, much to her surprise, who came to her defence again…which she thought was more than a little bit odd.

"Her face go' mashed up cause my broth'r decided to go an' punch her teeth in for her supplies, 'ain't nothing gets up after Merle takes a swin' at it." He huffed

"Would you at least think about it?" Rick implored "I for one would like to have you join our group for good, I'll make sure that you're treated right."

"It doesn't look like I have much of a choice does it?" Evangeline hissed "But let's get this clear, I'm not getting stuck with all the shit jobs, if anything, I don't have to do anything around here, since you guys owe me."

With that, Evangeline shook her head and stalked her way back into the RV, where Jim was still on his own, at least he was someone in this goddamn camp that didn't get her back up every minute of the day.


End file.
